BULLS EXTEND PREMIER DIVISION LEAD WITH 10 WICKET WIN OVER FELLING. Sat 8 Aug 2026 ;NEPL Premier Division: SNCC v Felling (h) 110o win/lose/draw

8th Aug 2026

Felling 193 ao (56.2o) Alasdair Appleby 56, Toby Robinson 12, Tom Slane 52, Elliot Fox 34: Jonny Wightman 2-31, Jonny Bushnell 3-52, Calum Fletcher 1-30, Oli McGee 2-35, Nathan Gough 2-20, Will Phillips 0-13.

SNCC 195-0 (38.3o) Chris Hewison 134*, Sol Bell 53*: Paul Leonard 0-21, Tom Slane 0-46, Elliot Fox 0-40, Jim Twiddy 0-29, Alasdair Appleby 0-20, Anwar Dawlatzia 0-17, Toby Robinson 0-14.

SNCC won by 10 wickets- 30 points, Felling 2.

A team player to the core but this was a day to celebrate Hewey 134* & 4 catches, who with Sol Bell (53*), produced an undefeated highest partnership of the season for the Bulls, earning 30 points, lifting them 97 points ahead of Burnopfield in the NEPL Premier Division with 5 to play. At the end of a sunny day, the smiles were evident.

Felling chose to bat, Appleby (lh) & Stamper (rh) faced Wightman & Bushnell. An edge in over two, low to second slip eluded the outstretched left hand, but in over 6 Stamper (6) was caught by Hewey at first slip, after David, at second, had palmed it his way, 20-1.

Twiddy (6) on the back foot edged to w/k Rob of Jonny Wightman in the 9th, 27-2. Already there had been run saving stops by w/k Rob down the legside, Calum at 3^rd man, David at second slip, Oli at mid off & Bushy in the covers.

With the w/k up, Wighters persuaded Robinson (12) to drive back to him, Jonny taking a neat catch on follow through, 49-3 in the 13th, Appleby 21*. Drinks were taken after 15 overs at 54-3, Calum was two overs into his spell of 5.

Nathan began in over 17 & in his second found a good ball to bowl Mustard (6) pushing forward, 65-4. Oli entered the attack in over 22 but found length elusive. Appleby reached 50 * in over 25 with a flick to fine leg. Bushy, now from the Grove end, induced an edge but David at second slip could not cling on low to his right.

In Oli's third Hurst (9) drove low to Hewey's right at mid wicket & he held a tumbling catch, 96-5. At lunch, two overs later, the score was 103-5. Further fielding credits to Will P at mid off & Hewey at short extra which saved further runs.

Two overs into the afternoon Appleby's (56, 79b 9x4) attempted sweep lofted toward fine leg where Jonny Wightman turned, ran back & took a neat catch over his shoulder, 107-6. In the next Norman (0) was bowled by Bushy & two overs later Leonard (0) edged to Hewey at slip, 114-8. Jonny raced to third man to save a boundary , Will A did the same twice at mid off.

There followed a determined, & at times enterprising, partnership of 73 between Slane & Fox which lasted 21 overs. 

Fox exploited a space at mid wicket regularly & Slane battled to reach 28* in the 41^st over, 138-8. Sol saved well at cover & the partnership continued to defy bowling changes, a 50* partnership came up in the 49^th over.  In the 5^th over of Calum's spell Fox (34, 64b 5x4) unexpectedly, pulled straight to Hewey at mid wicket, 187-9.

Then in the 57^th much to his disappointment, Slane (52, 97b 6x4) who had batted so well, swung Nathan to deep square leg where Calum took a well judged catch on the boundary, 193 all out.

In reply Chris Hewison & Sol Bell faced the swing of Leonard (Grove) & seam of Slane (Park). 41 without loss after 10 overs Hewey 30*, Sol 11*.

Fox (rm) & later Twiddy (sla) took up the attack but the runs flowed as Hewey drove & cut 3x4 off consecutive Twiddy deliveries in over 20 reaching 52* in the process, 79-0. In the 10 overs to tea the total had risen to 125-0 Hewey 89* Sol 32*.

Fox decided that the short ball was the answer & proceeded to bowl several, none called no ball for height surprisingly ! Hewey reached his century in over 33 with a single, amid rapturous applause from the Pavilion. Slane bowled a maiden but then Hewey took 4.4.4.1.6 from the 35^th over 166-0, Sol 42*.

The hope was that the partnership would remain undefeated &, after 2x4 off the back foot through cover & to square leg, both to Hewey, that was achieved when Sol struck 2x4 through extra cover off Robinson in the 39th.

Hewey 134 *(139b, 23x4, 1x6) a magnificent display of controlled stroke play, Sol 53* (92b, 5x4) on this occasion, a very able supporting act, now with 876 league runs. The highest partnership for any wicket for SNCC in 2026.

Results elsewhere meant that the Bulls lead at the top of the Premier division had extended to 97 points with 5 win/lose games (24 points to the winner, bonuses to the loser), to go.

Onward to 

Sun 9 Aug Vitality Club T20 regional finals day at Harrogate, SNCC v Marton from 1300,

Fri 14 Aug Banks Salver 100 ¼ final SNCC v Chester-le-Street (a) 1800.

Sat 15 Aug SNCC v Burnopfield (h) 1200, 50/50 win/lose 

We hope you can be there.

Duncan.